Levitate - Weightless?

[TDLofCC]

According to my GM when you levitate you become weightless and can be blown away (or need fly checks) when a gust of wind comes along.

In my opinion you just move yourself ... let's say ... telekinetically using magic ... not becoming weightless and floating ...

I've searched the forums and books ... but cannot find anything about this subject.

Levitate allows you to move yourself, another creature, or an object up and down as you wish. A creature must be willing to be levitated, and an object must be unattended or possessed by a willing creature. You can mentally direct the recipient to move up or down as much as 20 feet each round; doing so is a move action. You cannot move the recipient horizontally, but the recipient could clamber along the face of a cliff, for example, or push against a ceiling to move laterally (generally at half its base land speed).

A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a –1 penalty on attack rolls, the second –2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.

Perhaps it's in between the sentences ... But I would love some help in this matter :)

Cheers in advance.

-TDL

[Abraham spalding]

HAHA! If they were weightless there would be a lot more problems than simply being blown away. But leaving physics out of it, he's wrong.

You still weigh the same amount you simply are set at a magical height and need help moving around since you have nothing to push off of.

[Lincoln Hills]

It'll be hard to persuade your GM out of his house-rule, but I see no evidence that levitate works like that. The spell description says nothing about removing your mass. Your best argument point would be "push along a ceiling to move laterally, generally at half its base land speed." A creature with a weight of 0 could send itself flying across the ceiling with a single heave - probably couldn't stop until it struck a wall, too.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

At this point a lot of people will start debating physics and magic. Technically if you counter your relative weight vs gravity you would be effectively "weightless." However I prefer to imagine it as if you were wearing a harness and being held up by a rope. You can be moved around, but you are in some vague sense "mystically anchored." In other words you could be blown away, but it takes more than a light breeze.
Just my 2C.

Edit: I agree with what spalding said, though he put it better than I.

[King of Vrock]

I wouldn't say you're weightless, but you'd be affected by winds as if you were flying, taking the appropriate penalties to your fly skill checks (which is probably 0 ranks if levitate is all you have access to) against being checked, blown away, etc.

--Vrocket science

[LazarX]

What said GM seems to forget is that Levitate does not make you MASSLESS. You still retain mass, and getting it to move still requires effort.

[Cpt. Caboodle]

TDLofCC wrote:

According to my GM when you levitate you become weightless

Yes, you are weightless. That's why you float.

TDLofCC wrote:

and can be blown away when a gust of wind comes along.

No. You still keep your mass. mass =/= weight.

Imagine outer space. The ISS is weightless (or it wouldn't stay up there), but it has a mass of several (hundreds?) tons; it wouldn't be moved by a mere gust of wind (or equivalent force, since it's somewhere where there's hardly ever wind...)

[RedDogMT]

I think the best way to think of it would be like trying to move a heavy object across a slick surface (like ice). The lack of friction would make it easier to move an object, but inertia still means it takes energy energy to start, stop, and control the direction of the object. The object isn't a balloon.

Wind would affect a levitating object, but it would be a cumulative affect. It could take a few rounds, but a levitating character in a strong wind could find themselves in a bit of trouble.

[Abraham spalding]

RedDogMT wrote:

I think the best way to think of it would be like trying to move a heavy object across a slick surface (like ice). The lack of friction would make it easier to move an object, but inertia still means it takes energy energy to start, stop, and control the direction of the object. The object isn't a balloon.

Wind would affect a levitating object, but it would be a cumulative affect. It could take a few rounds, but a levitating character in a strong wind could find themselves in a bit of trouble.

Provided they don't simply stabilize, as the spell allows. Also it wouldn't even be as good as a slick surface since you have to slowly move yourself a stiff wind isn't going to do it for a while.

[GeneticDrift]

"Target you or one willing creature or one object (total weight up to 100 lbs./level)" is the only mention of weight. You are not weightless unless the spell had said so.

You only move on your own action (no free move for a hammer to the face) for effects that move you they do so normally (bull rush, reposition, drag, grapple) this is true because the spell did not change it.

Levitate is not flight in anyway. It is not zero gravity. You are not a leaf on the wind. It is magic that allows you to move someone or yourself up and down (and hold off the ground)

Edit: this spell could use a rewrite so it makes more sense and does what people want.

[Abraham spalding]

Basically put it's a fairly unstable elevator that can be shifted with you laterally.